Somusing

Vera and Glen brought a cotton candy maker that Mira really enjoyed. She is forbidden (by me) from eating cotton candy unless it's freshly made and she witnesses it. (That's just how cotton candy is supposed to be!) So being able to actually make cotton candy herself was pretty great. Also, please enjoy scrolling through these photos of Mira jumping on the rocket launcher thingy that Vera and Glen brought.

I realize that I'm nowhere near my twenties anymore, but this book is fantastic and has joined my short list of required reading for my kids and anyone who has anything to do with young people. I read it. Then Jon read it. Then I sent copies to my sisters who have older kids. I made Zed and Phin read it and Jacob is partway through it. Even though my kids aren't working dead-end jobs or trying to "find themselves" while we support them, the book resulted in some good decisions for one kid in particular. He knows who he is. Here's a Ted talk by the author to get the gist. I highly recommend both the book and the talk.

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Two weeks ago I went on a nice hike on the north side of Teton Pass (between Victor, Idaho and Wilson, Wyoming) with Lillian and Seth and their cross country running team from Teton High School, headed by Coach Neil Gleichman. Every fall they do a training hike, and they're always awesome. This year the hike was to Taylor Mountain, in the Tetons. (There are lots of other Taylor Mountains out there.) We didn't make it all the way to the top, but had a great hike: Here's a view northeast into Jackson Hole, Wyoming: And a view northwest into Teton Valley, Idaho: We were pretty wet by the time we got down, since it had warmed up a lot, but it was a beautiful day to hike.

Yesterday I wanted to finally hike to Housetop Mountain, on the southeast side of Fox Creek Canyon in Wyoming, not far from our home in Teton Valley, Idaho. I followed an old logging road that is mostly grown over and that I've lost track of before when hiking on it. The snow made it worse, but maybe also better as I followed animal trails sometimes. I frequently lost and re-found the old road, and it was a tough slog through fallen trees, slippery slush-covered rocks, thorny plants, and fairly wet snow: Once I got out onto open fields with some views, it felt more worth it. On the way up near Baldy Knoll I had frequent stunning views like this one east (with Housetop Mountain on the right / south): And this was the view from Baldy Knoll northwest over Chapin, Bates, and Driggs toward Ashton: I would love to have some of these pines with the clusters of needles in our yard: The signs marking the beginning of the wildnerness area plan for much more snow than is cur...

Last night I went camping with Seth's scout troop at Warm River campground, northeast from Ashton, Idaho. It was raining plenty on the way there, and kept raining all night until maybe 5 this morning. But scoutmaster Aaron Jenkins and assistant George Bates had large tarps we set up tied to the trees to give us cover from the rain, and we had a good night. Today after breakfast we broke camp and drove north up the road toward Mesa Falls with our bikes in the back of the truck to a spot where the road meets the railbed of the railroad that used to go from Ashton to West Yellowstone. We had an easy, nice 8-mile ride downhill from there back to the campground. As the day progressed, the clouds cleared and the views just kept getting better. A dust-free, cool ride was a great payoff for a little rain beforehand. We drove back to Teton Valley through Ashton, Lamont, and Felt, and the hills and fall colors were amazing. We should do a longer ride on that former railbed another ...

This summer the four Jensen brothers (Jon, Jeremiah, Caleb, Charlie) and our families had a reunion camping trip in Great Basin National Park, near Baker, Nevada. None of us had been there before, but it was roughly in the equally distant from all of us, had a campground for car camping, and the second-highest peak in Nevada, which some of us wanted to hike. The town of Baker had lots of fun homemade artwork outdoors in yards, on fences, etc. We didn't get any photos of that as we drove by on the highway, but this extra stop sign in the middle, behind the cross road, that says "Whoa", imparts the feel of it: The first night we weren't able to find campsites near each other, so the next morning some of us moved our tents and things to campsites closer to the others once some people had left: We had plenty of time to just hang out: And Caleb & Jenn's popup camping trailer, shelter, and cooking gear made it much nicer for everyone: There were so...